Alcona boys edge Oscoda for victory

LINCOLN-The Alcona boys basketball team made its 2013 Homecoming a memorable one.

Down by 11 points at halftime, the Tigers battled back and eventually edged by Oscoda, besting the Owls 54-51 at Alcona High School on Friday.

Alcona (10-4, 3-1 Huron Shores) trailed after each of the first three quarters, and entered the final period with a five point deficit. After trading baskets for a few minutes, Alcona finally got the upperhand, tying the game at 48 with 3:36 left after a basket from Carson Jamieson.

Jared Steiner, who scored a game-high 23 points, gave Alcona the lead for good a few seconds later and eventually sealed Alcona’s win with a pair of free throws with five seconds left.

Sandwiched in between Steiner’s shots were a pair of free throws from Alex Lamrock, which pulled Oscoda to within one with six seconds left, but after Steiner’s free throws, a last-second shot from Kevin Leveille fell well short of the basket.

“The first half the kids kind of were flat. At halftime, I gave them a little prep talk and they responded. They came out and played their hearts out,” Alcona coach Tim Somers said. “I think a lot of it was our defensive pressure, we came out with man-to-man and really got the ball game to turn around in our favor.”

Trenton LaVergne added 20 points for the Tigers.

Alcona started slow to begin the game and trailed 16-8 after the first quarter. The Tigers got more shots in the second quarter, but had a hard time getting them to drop. Oscoda, on the other hand, distributed the ball well and built a 31-19 halftime lead.

The Tigers came out and quickly narrowed the gap to begin the second half, scoring the period’s first seven points to cut Oscoda’s lead to five. The Owls recovered however and kept pace with Alcona the rest of the quarter and led 42-37 after 24 minutes of play.

“The other kids that played gave me some great minutes and you have to have that coming down the stretch,” Somers said.

Cody Nichols led Oscoda with 13 points, Leveille had 10 and Lamrock and Tony Weed each had nine.